IPL 2026: GT Opt To Bowl Against KKR As Gujarat Titans Eye Playoff Spot

Gujarat Titans (GT) won the toss and elected to bowl first against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in Match 60 of IPL 2026 at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Saturday.

An unchanged GT side entered the contest on the back of a five-match winning streak and could become the first team to secure a playoffs berth with a victory.

For KKR, however, a defeat would officially end their campaign.

After winning the toss, GT captain Shubman Gill said the pitch appeared to have some moisture due to rain in the lead-up to the match and was likely to improve in the second innings.

“It does look like that (pitch having moisture). There was a little bit of rain around yesterday, and it looks a little bit sticky. We are hoping that it’s going to get better in the second innings,” Gill said.

Gill credited Gujarat’s bowling attack for the team’s consistent performances this season and stressed the importance of maintaining momentum heading into the business end of the tournament.

“Definitely, we believe that batsmen do win you matches, but if you want to win championships, your bowling unit has to be in form, and luckily for us, they are firing on all cylinders,” he said.

The GT skipper also highlighted the advantage of finishing in the top two positions in the league standings.

KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane confirmed that Varun Chakaravarthy returned to the playing XI after recovering from a niggle, replacing Vaibhav Arora.

“Taking one game at a time. We have to win three games and see what happens,” Rahane further said, adding that KKR had been playing good cricket in recent matches.

Playing XIs:

Gujarat Titans: Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (captain), Jos Buttler (wk), Nishant Sindhu, Washington Sundar, Jason Holder, Rashid Khan, Arshad Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Mohammed Siraj.

Kolkata Knight Riders: Finn Allen, Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Cameron Green, Rinku Singh, Manish Pandey, Sunil Narine, Anukul Roy, Varun Chakravarthy, Kartik Tyagi, Saurabh Dubey.

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